we told you about the radio shock jock. it was cancelled after the nurse involved in the prank killed herself. do you think all shock jocks should be kecked off of the air? >> absolutely not. free speech should be a priority even if you [tko-ept] agree with the words. shock jocks lend to the moral decay of the country and the world. >> thanks to everybody. >> "fox and friends" starts right now. hope that you have a great day. >> you, too. >> see you back here tomorrow . "fox and friends". >> gretchen: good morning, everybody. today is december lenth, 2012. >> steve: 2012. >> gretchen: i am gretchen carlson. sorry kids. you don't have to go to school today. michigan teachers fighting against the bill that gives workers the right to not pay

dues. >> steve: washington can't find a solution to the fiscal cliff . but someone who fixed budgets in the past know it is simple. >> if i raise taxes again i will have to do it in two or four years . people are going to leave. >> steve: find out how america's mayor did it straight ahead. straight ahead. feel a cold coming on? gretchen, you will be better in no time. we'll drink to that. >> you will be better in no time and all of my teases will rhyme today. "fox and friends" starts right now. ♪ ♪ "fox and friends". >> steve: ho, ho, hompt look who is here today eric boling. >> gretchen: you get your own

personal lurch. >> eric: good to be here. >> steve: you will find out how booze, beer and wine can make you healthier. the news we have all waited for. >> gretchen: yeah, a lot of people waking up with a headache. now it makes sense why i drank so much last night. overnight a developing story. a medical chopper went down last night leaving three people dead. the chopper which is reggistered to rock ford memorial hospital it went down in a field . e pilot and two flight nurses were killed . no patients were on board. a hero who died saving a american doctor from the taliban. nicholas checque. he was part of field team 6. same unit that killed bin

laden. he moved in quickly to a group of huts where the doctor was held hostage. the doctor joseph was rescued but the young navy seal took a bullet on to the head and died from his injuries. it is it the largest fine paid by a bank. hsbc agreed to pay 1.89 billion to settle a money laundering case. it is for nations like iran and enabled mexican drug cartels to move money loolly through the american subsidaries. are you ready for some country? ♪ ♪ wrecked my heart. ♪ i should never let go. ♪ the one that good away. >> gretchen: the american country award kicked off in

vegas. luke bryant took home nine awards including artist of the year. >> country music. we get to do what we love and for people who are honest and hard working and beautiful people thoo support great music. >> he went on to do the right thing thanking his wife and band and all of the fans and those are your headlines. >> steve: very nice. michigan is poised later today to pass landmark legislation. big labor is furous and marshalling the troops. if you were at the afo head quart ares in michigan, you would have seen cars with license plates from georgia, minnesota and ohio and illinois and they are angry that the people of the great state of the michigan will soon get a choice in whether or not to join a union.

until tonight you had to join a union. >> eric: more interesting to that is that they closed school districts in and around the detroit area because teachers decided to protest instead of teaching the kids. >> gretchen: that is insane. especially when you think of snow days coming. in fact minnesota had 18 inches of snow and protestors that they can make it out of minnesota to get to state of michigan. now the kids are going to suffer? it is a repercussion of this? >> eric: what are the teachers teaching the kids by not showing up to work and protesting a right to work legislation that is passed legally and no tricks done. they vote add for a republican governor who said he would do that and he did do that. >> steve: kids will learn how teachers get a day off. calling in sick. talking about taylor,

michigan. so many teachers called in sick superintendents said we'll take tomorrow off, kids. see you back here on wednesday. the president of the united states was in michigan and he said right to work thing, sure you have heard the stories about good wages and stuff like that in right to work states and plants as well. but it is not about economics. it is about politicings. here is our president. >> what we shouldn't be doing is take your right to barg ape for better wages and working conditions. it is right to work laws don't have to do with economics but everything to do with politicings. what they are really talking about giving you the right to work for less money. we don't want a race to the bottom. we want to race to the top. america --

america is not going to compete based on low skill, low wage, no workers rights, we have to get past this whole situation where we manufacture crisis because of politics. >> gretchen: first of all, it is my undersnding in a right to work state you can still choose to be in the union and pay the union dues and by the way, there are foreign made cars made here in the united states in other states where the unions are not involved, and they end thriving. it is not like you make bad cars because you don't have a union involved. >> steve: right to work organizes and bans collective

bargaining which is not true. it simply gives employees the right to choose whether or not you want to join the union. half of the country is right to work. >> eric: and will allow you to leave the union. there are car companies that came or here and choose not do do business in detroit. instead this may be actually one of the best things that could happen to the state of michigan and maybe the city of detroit. if you are a car company and want to do business there because the unions are too strong and thes have to be so high and all of the jumping through hoops. maybe now you can. maybe the next car company will go do business there and bring jobs there. >> gretchen: remember back during the bailout, the unions got the good end of the deal in the bailout. it was privately held dealerships that got the rough deal. >> eric: stock holders and

bond holders. >> steve: if you were holding gm stock it went to zero. >> gretchen: unions won in that deal. >> eric: uah w took billions up front. stock holders you know you might lose everything. when you buy a bond you are first in line and they wiped out the bond holders. >> gretchen: and for the state of indiana teachers infact. >> brian: gm bond holders got roll add out. capitalism rules and president obama changed going forward. >> steve: if you are a union member your union will go to bat for you and they went to bat at chrysler. do you remember when we told you about the chrysler workers who were smoking pot and drinking deer, that is lunch hour. that is a break out in the -- that does look like pot. the company chrysler has had to hire them back.

they released a statement while the company doesn't agree with the ultimate decision of the arbitrator, we respect the grievance procedure process and the relationship with the uaw. folks, how would you like to buy the car that built by those guys in the afternoon? >> gretchen: it is interesting, i wonder how important it was it was off duty conduct. there must be rules written in as long as they were not doing it technically on duty and were on lunch duty. i am not a lawyer. but i bet that was part of the arbitrator deciding in their favor, but it goes to show why all . people are showing up in michigan today because if you are part of the union. they are great, they are great at keeping your jobs for you. they are. >> eric: any other job on the planet. if you were caught in the parking lot drinking one of the bottles was beer and

smoking pot, you would be fired. forget buying the car, how would you like to be driving your kids to a school in a car. that's why. that's why it is so bad because it is so hard to fire these people. 92 indeed. talking about the pesky fiscal cliff loomming in the end of the year. you know, the way washington works. you got to write bills and get people on board. if that is true and if they want to have a deal by january wobst as you look at a live picture where no one is working in that building. they would have to come up with a deal sometime this week by this weekend. it is interesting according to usa today apparently both sides are talk not releasing detailings. mr. boehner wants to know what spending cuts the president is talking about . the president wants to know

what kind much tax hike the republicans go on. >> gretchen: it feels like dejavu. ground hog dog. last year it the debt ceiling orificical cliff. it was the debt ceiling. >> steve: first fiscal cliff of our lifetime. >> gretchen: it feels like it has been here a longg time and they were talking about the importance of the day to get the bill actually through. i feel like they can jump through hoops and get past that, too. >> eric: had it has to originate in the house and sent over marked up to the senate and point being there is a lot of hoop to jump through. you know. rudy guiliani is on hannity last night. he was approached with the same sort of problem in new york city . listen to how he handled it >> i was given a report that said you have to raise taxes and said nothing about reducing spending.

i was not an economic expert. i became one after becoming mayor in new york. i said it makes no sense. if i raises tax now. i will have to do it in two or four years. i will try to do something different. lower taxings. i in the beginning but a little bit and two or three years lower taxings. we had a three billion surplus and unemployment dropped from 10.5 to six percent . the city was humming. bowles is rightt, this is a spending problem. >> steve: absolutely. the thing is if washington simply when we send our taxings. if they sent it wisely it would be one thing. but you hear about so much waste and stuff going by the side . they want more taxes. you think they will those

efficiently? of course not. >> gretchen: you want to know the newest powerball winner. why his financial advisors are telling him to take the money and ruin now before the fiscal cliff. >> brian: millions of dollars in a green company only to sell it to china? stewart varney with another waste of your money. he's coming up now. ♪ it's my favorite time of year again

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♪ where just one touch creates the perfect coffee. where every cappuccino and latte is only made with fresh milk. and where the staff is exceptionally friendly. ♪ nespresso. what else? ♪ >> gretchen: if you are just waking up it is 17 minutes past the top of the is it like a fire sale on america interest? china buying up u.s. companies on the cheap and we are paying interest on money we are borrowing from the communist company in the first place. a battery system is closed

unless regalators stepped in. is it 123. >> it is a-123. >> gretchen: it went bankrupt. >> the judge holds an auction and a chinese company wins the auction and $256 million for a 123. china has the money. that's the bottom line. we have spent all of ours and china is buying up american assets like the battery company. the problem is, taxpayers have subicized a 123 and pumped in a grant and gave it to this outfit that is now bankrupt and china is picking up the pieces dirt cheap. the ball is in president obama's court. there is a committee that decides whether or not a foreign company can buy an american company. on what grounds do they wish to buy.

is it in our national interest to sell to a chinese company. time geithner heads that committee and he will decide are we going to sell this dirt cheap to china or not. >> gretchen: oh, by the way, we kind of need china, they loan us a bunch of money. >> i think he will sell it. >> gretchen: is that good or bad for america? >> that is a difficult question to answer. do we want to sell our asset that is we subicized cheap to commina. this is a green energy company and part of president obama's energy policy that failed. >> gretchen: sorry to throw you because we didn't talk about it. did you see by 2030 that america will not be the super power that it has been. >> i have seen it before. the economic super power. we are spending so much more than we are taking in and borrowing the deficit largely

from china. they recycle the money and buy our assets cheap. are we happy about this absolutely not. the ball is in president obama's court. are you going to do this or not. >> gretchen: it is explained simply. you are the star of your own show. >> this is very unpopular. america on a fire sale bought cheap people are not happy about it. >> gretchen: you will talk about it 9:20 a.m. on fox business network. >> thank you. >> gretchen: tax hikes and trying to avoid paying their open taxes. tucker carlson on the double standard. did you see dogs learning how to drive? did they pass the test. the results are in. i think they park better than i do for sure. ♪

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>> steve: got quick headlines. george zimmerman may find out if he can leave seminole county, florida . leave the county. zimmerman of course, facing murder charges for the shooting death of trayvon martin . google dodging two billion in taxings. bloomburg news reports that the company funneled nearly 10 billion in ref new in a bermuda shell company last year cutting its tax rate in half. bermuda has no corporate income tax. google. eric back to you. >> eric: thank you, steve .

open the pages of the washington post you will see america rich want to pay more taxings. of course you are one of the wealthy people who own the post. they are being spared. they will pay 2012 and 13 dividends early just in case taxes go up. fox news contractor is the founder of the -- it is not just the post but companies are pushing dividends forward saying let's get in front of the fiscal cliff thing it is interesting that the post is one of them. >> they spent the year agitating for barack obama and arguing that the rest of the us ought to pay taxs and spending money trying to avoid doing that. it is not just the post but also individuals. we sent a camera with the patriotic millionaires. rich people who are up there lobbying for higher taxes on

the wealthy and we said look, you have an opportunity to right now donate to the federal treasury and not one of them took us up on it. of course not. these are people who campaigned for barack obama and on behalfful higher taxs and spend millions every year avoiding taxos attorneys and tax accountants. >> eric: steve read a story about google putting millions in bermuda . then tack i this one. jim sevenegal, this man spoke in the dnc. they did the same thing. they declared themselves a dividend in 2012 so they avoid the potential higher taxes was 2013. y >> if there is a clearrer definition of hypochrissy i am

not aware of it. it is raising taxes on the wealthy and then go out of your way not to pay those very taxes. there is no way around this. any company that does this or individual that does this ought to be held accountable. next time warren buffet is on television, how many tax accountants and lawyers do you have and trying to avoid the very taxes that the restt of us have to pay? warren buffet spending as little taxes as possible . i am sure they are interested in keeping that dividend and capitol gains low as possible. that hurts the company. >> one final thing. companies thatagitate on behalf of higher taxings have an advantage from this. when their smaller competitors pay taxes it helps them. they will not go out of the

business by paying the higher rate. there is a business advantage in many cases they do not disclose when they argue for higher taxes. >> eric: thank you. the show that pulled the royy prank cancelled. should all shock jocks be pulled off of the air? and the powerball and lotto winner get this, because of the looming fiscal cliff. what would you do. first happy birthday to brendda lye lye who is 68 years young. ♪ ♪ [ dylan ] this is one way to keep your underwear clean. this is another! ta-daa! try charmin ultra strong.

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they want to prove they are helping in hopes of increasing adoption. the dog would do better than me in the parking contest. once was to pass the test and once was last monday. >> steve: what do you do when you come to a spot in the town where there is parallel. >> gretchen: if my husband is in the car i let him do the honors k. and now my dog. >> eric: the dog had one paw. don't you use 10 and two clock position. >> steve: it was a good idea and did the drivers final live on television in new wreland. it was a show, folkings. they are shelter dogs and absolutely drove the cars by themselves. they hit the gas. >> gretchen: they did not. >> steve: how did you get it down to the pedal.

>> steve: we saw the pedal. >> eric: i saw a hand. it is to point out how smart they are. raising the awareness that shelter dogs should be adopted. i have had a shelter dog. who saved who. they are amazing >> chris: congratulations. >> gretchen: we have shelter dogings coming up at seven:30 just an hour from now . so if you are looking for a pet at christmas time pay attention. now for the rest of the headlines on the crash that killed mexican singer jennie riveria. her jet was damaged in a crash in texas and registered to a company in houston. no one was hurt in that incident and friend and family and fans are holding a vig il. >> steve: we are hearing from

the family of a british nurse that killed hears after putting through a prank call to kate hiddle ton's appearance-- middleton. >> they miss her every moment of every day . they are really grateful to the support of the british public and the public overseas for the messages and support and kindness. >> steve: as a result of the tragedy the australian radio team behind the call, the show was cancel prankk calls are banned on all shows on the channel . the radio station expected to give $500,000 to the nurse's family. >> eric: right to life places, there are no plates with the opinion available. they voted down pro option

that said trust woman. the state attorney general has not decided whether to appeal. >> gretchen: the gird gird bidding adieu to his own country move nothing a new mansion in belg jum. he is taking flight from the president's plan to tax all incomes above 1.2 million at 75 percent . he does not look good. speaking of millionings >> chris: no kidding, we met the first of the two powerball winner to come forward and take the lump sum. the second one there. say hello to matthew good. we don't know where he lives.

>> gretchen: fountain hills it is 10 minutes from where my parents live. 92 they have a thing in arizona, if you want to remain anonymous when you win a lottery you can. because the associated press asked for the freeddom of information act. they had to cough up this guy's name. he will not quit his jobb but a lot of the details are justt out there. we know he decided to take the money now before the end of the year because of the fiscal cliff. >> eric: if it has to be regular income and not capitol gains and not difdeppeds and there is a quick wind fall profit and go assuming he will be in the top tax bracket almost four percent on 130 million. five or six million. he takes it now. >> steve: he wound up with

$192 million dollars. rick rickk even more so. six million difference. >> steve: he was at the store and he had a 20 he said give me $10 . the clerk said you should take all 20. he left the winning ticket in the visor of the car. something in your car worth $200,000,000. >> gretchen: my kids were so excited when they saw the gas station. maybe pawent to get gas and you can also wash your car. they thought grandpa was the one. unfortunately notice. it was matthew good. >> steve: he can now buy it? >> gretchen: he can buy the entire complex. rick rickk did it before the fiscal cliff. >> steve: we have extreme weather.

a twister forming . look at this shocking scene caught on camera by a guy driving through florida. tornado caused serus damage to homes. joining us with the latest is lauren johnson. good morning, jaunce jaunce. >> hey, good morning to you, steve. florida power and lightt has been out here all night trying to restore the power to the neighborhood who was hard hit by mother nature. strong winds blew throughh here ripping apart homes and lives eep. twisted metal scattered aroundd the frontt yardds. many pieces are wrapped around the trees and street signs. some trees toppled on the power lines and some on top of cars and homes. it is estimated 10 homes in the coastal community were completelyy destroyed by mother nature and people unable to returnn to the homes.

red cross called in here to help those familis and some of the homes received some damage and others received some. by all indication they believe it was a tornado and they will make the determination at nine o'clockk a.m. this mornn they don't know what category that was that touched down. >> eric: we thank you very much. maria molina is in the extreme weather centerr. maria tornado in december? >> hey, guys. we are getting the camera set up outside. we do have tornados reportted from yesterday and also reported on sunday. that is all associated with a storm system that dumped a lot of heavy snow in portions of the midwest. 10 tornados reportted on monday. one of them touching down in florida and some reportted in louisiana and mississippi and also about 17 reports, of strong damaging winds over 60 miles per hour. you can see them report in parts of alabama and

significant snowfalll in the midwest . the next graphic showed totals and there was a loft snow parts of minnesota and wisconsin and madison south dakota . if you want to roll on that video to minnesota and midwest where we saw a lot of that white stuff everywhere and the cars unfortunately we have reports was spin outs and everything justt balse of how slippery the conditions were out there. we had dangerous driving conditions in the storm . the snow is over in the midwest and colder in the teens in parts of minnesota and also going to see a cool down in new york city as we head on later today when the cold front clears on throughh. we have drizzle in the city and a lot of cloudd cover and going to have travell delays in and out of the big airport hubs because of the poor visibility. the storm is expected to clearr out in the northeast laterr today. back to you guys inside.

>> steve: maria out in the weather. thank you very much. >> gretchen: next on the run down. pamella anderson land happened on the government's naughty list. >> steve: shocking. >> gretchen: i can think of a couple of reins why? >> eric: bay watch. >> gretchen: not the first time she has been on the naughty listt. >> eric: can a shot of whiskey cure the common cold? they say chutely. stick aroundd. >> steve: absolutely. c ♪ c ♪ ♪

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pot in colorado. voters approved a constitutional last month. they are allowed to smoke in public. it is illegal to smoke it. pam anderson reportedly has two massive tax liens filed against her. it is not the first time she was in trouble. i thought it was something totally different she would be in trouble for. guys? >> steve: let's hope hasslehoff can help her out. turns out your next toast may improve your health. here to explain is the doctor from the fox medical a-team. >> good morning, steve. >> steve: we are beer, wine and booze and turns out they all can make you healthier in

moderation. >> i never thought one day i would be a physician promoting or talking about alcohol as a treatment to cold and flu. this is whiskey or brandy. everyone is familiar with this and grandma used to give it. hot tea with lemon and add honey to it vander bilt said it is great for cold and virus. there is no scientific data behind this except the steam from this guy can clear your sinus . brandy, the study talked abou the fact it opens up your vessels. >> steve: does it have to be brandy or -- >> brandy or whiskey. cuclear all of the junky stuff. >> steve: you have fine medicine. what about the tea. >> i don't think alone. hon yelemon to. q. it is a great formula for

the sinuses >> chris: two glasses of red wine a day. reservatol is good for you? >> i talked about this on sunday house calls twompt things i talked about. coffee which is not our segment. but red wine is goodd for you. it is all in moderation. a glass of this at night is fine. this is a study coming from the british and this is associated with reducing the risk of colon cancer by 50 percnt . three glasses a week is we are finding out more and more. you have to drink a lot of the red wine to get the right amount and no one will put that much red wine in the system because of liver issues. couple of glass size great for you. >> steve: japanese studied a beer company and they figured out one of the elements in

bire -- beer is good for you. >> what they are finding in beer. there is something that is a new compound that works against certain viruses. r-v virus . that virus, we don't cover on the vaccination and that is interesting. it can cause a common cold . beer can help. another thing it doesn't have enough of that compound. you need 30 of these guy to get that amount. it is not healthy for you it is interesting what we find in beer. in the future they may give a concentrated one. >> steve: for this to work for you. you need 30 of those. ted would call that tuesday night. >> not good. >> steve: and all of the guys on the animal house movie was healthy guys. >> which one will you pick? >>y have to wait.

>> steve: thank you very much for the studio call. straight ahead. it is one of the most dangerous cities in america. could the same thing happen to your town? michigan set to be a right of torque state. judge napolitano on the case next on "fox and friends" live from new york city. ♪ ♪

>> gretchen: class is cancelled for many school in

michigan today . teachers are calling out sick to protest the law to make union membership in that state optional. >> eric: so if the bill becomes optionalt will the unions be looking for pay cleck. joining us is judge napolitano. pay back. we need to point out governor snyder signs it and it becomings law. >> i don't know against whom there would be pay back. this is result of a referundum and the michigan voters said we don't want collective bargaining here and it is up to the legislature. collective bargaining is not part of the constitution in the state of michigan nor is compelled union membership. right now in michigan in certain industries, you are forced to join the union f. you don't join the union, then the government forces your employer to deduct the equivalent of the union dues and give it to the union. that is money that you are

entitled to going to an organization that you choose not to belong to. there is something called the first amendment, freedom of speech and association and that means not to associate . for generations, the states have trampled this right now . the right is resurgent again and as we can see from wisconsin, last year and from michigan today, the right -- >> gretchen: i believe indiana last year and now you have 24 states that decided to do i find it interesting though in the election, michigan people voted for president obama in that state, but they are fractured in that sense. they voted for something he is violently against . he was in the stump in michigan saying you should never let this happen and it is bad for the voters. >> sometimes the voters are more sophisticated than we

give credit for. clearly the democratic party nationally and in michigan favor collective bargaining but voters in michigan decided to have individual rights. >> gretchen: but will the party like that because of the unions give so much money to the party or they believe in the strength of the union and helping the worker. >> there is a little bit of all of it. this is a vicious circle because unions give money to politicians and who then enact laws that the unions like and they keep reelecting them. occasionally the voters will with that. >> eric: judge, the unemployment rate is 9.1 percent . in the surrounding states is lower. maybe they are trying to keep a few jobs in the state. >> the automobile building is suppressed no matter how much

money the federal government is going to borrow from chin a. my impetus is personal freedom your ability to join the union or not. >> gretchen: judge, we have to wrap tup. thank you. a former marine chained to a bed in mexican prison on fake charges. his mom is begging for his freedom. >> eric: and famous story in the building . now a guy has proof that noah's ark was real. have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it findone, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all youeed is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.

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and cranberry almond crunch. >> gretchen: good morning, everybody. it's tuesday, december 11, 2012. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks for sharing your time with us. a ground zero now in the battle against big labor. this is the michigan capitol, about to be invaded by union people from all across the country and they just got powerful help straight from the oval office. we'll tell you about it.

>> eric: don't tell washington, but america may fall off the fiscal cliff this week. the deadline to get a deal done just moved up. we'll tell you why and what it means for your wallet. >> steve: meanwhile, it is one of the most famous stories from the bible and this morning, the guy who discovered the titanic wreck says he's got proof noah's ark was real. i don't think that's picture of it, but you got to hear the story. "fox & friends" hour two for tuesday starts right now. >> steve: welcome, everybody. eric, do you have your christmas tree up yet at at "the five" sh. >> eric: we have one up and we have a menorah as well. >> steve: 'tis the season. very nice. we have three, at least three christmas trees in the hall. if you don't count those concal

things. >> gretchen: people were e-mailing, where is the christmas tree. >> steve: there is one here and one behind me. >> gretchen: and one in the shot. >> steve: jolly old ted. >> gretchen: is it there now? yeah. we have a lot. >> gretchen: oh, my goodness. to think i didn't notice that this morning. >> eric: take the menorah shot. there we go. >> steve: properly lit. >> gretchen: you and forgot the presents, ted. >> steve: thank you for joining us on this tuesday. we got a busy day. we're going to tell you what's going on in michigan. it's big regarding right to work in a minute. >> gretchen: first, let's do some headlines. we have a developingover night. a medical chopper went down last night, leaving three people dead in northern illinois. the chopper, reject sistered to rockford memorial hospital, was headed from rockford to a hospital 60 miles awhat i it went down in a field. the pilot and two flight nurses

unfortunately killed in the accident. no patients were on board. he's the hero who died saving an american doctor from the taliban in afghanistan. the pentagon identifying this navy seal, 28-year-old nick class czech. he was part of seal team 6, the same unit that killed osama bin laden. during the raid in afghanistan, he moved in on the huts where the doctor was being held hostage. gun fire broke out. the dork was rescued, but the navy seal was shot and he died from his injuries. a former top general in syria's chemical weapons program confirming our worst fears. major general silo has, quote, no doubt that president assad will use chemical weapons on his own people. he says he's desperate to cling to power and crush the uprising that started almost two years ago. he accuses assad's forces of already spraying pesticides and

dropping phosphorous. the archaeologist who discovered the titanic on the ocean floor says noah's ark happened. the black sea was once fresh water lake overrun by an enormous wall of water from the rising mediterranean sea. he found new evidence of that 400 feet below the surface of the modern day black sea. and those are your headlines. >> steve: that's great. meanwhile, later on today, the michigan house of representatives is going to take up two bills. they were passed by the state senate in michigan on thursday. their right to work bills. what they would do is make effectively michigan the 24th right to work state in the country, which means you would not have to join a union as a precondition of employment. for instance f you're a teacher and you don't like the fact that you got to pay union dues and it goes to political causes you don't support, going forward, you won't have to in michigan. >> gretchen: this would be the

24th state that would be a right to work state. recently it happened in wisconsin and there was a lot of uprigs. last year it happened in indiana. it seems to be a trend. really it's spurred on by the voters. they vote in this referendum, as they did in michigan. then it's up to the governor to sign it into law and because there are now 30-plus governors who are republicans across the country that, is one of the reasons they tend to be more in favor of this. >> eric: it's kind of interesting that there is pushback coming from the union, coming from the labor leaders because michigan has a 9.1% unemployment rate. ohio next door, who also competes for auto jobs, 6.9%. john kasich has done a good job there. wisconsin also competes for auto jobs as well. 6.9%. so why not try something different? remember joanne watson, the council woman who said, hey, president obama, bring home the bacon where. is our bailout? we voted for you. detroit city council woman.

maybe they should reconsider this because it's not work. detroit is on the verge of bankruptcy and plenty of opportunity to do business in detroit, but businesses are moving away. neighbor will be an opportunity to bring business back to a struggling city. >> steve: also it would be interesting a year from now to see where union membership is. if you have the choice between joining and not joining, do you want to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars each year supporting unions that may not -- they wind up directing their money to various political functions that you may not support. >> gretchen: a lot of people may still want to do it. the idea is it's choice. so if you don't want to do it, you don't have to and that's what the judge was just talking about. it's your first amendment right really to be able to have the choice of what you want to do. >> eric: at some point as soon as this gets signed into law, the people who are currently in the unions can opt out. they can say i'm done with that. now i can move away. they may or may not, but they have the choice. >> steve: officially later on

today, the house of representatives in michigan will vote on it and so union has really rallied the troops. they're expecting a crowd of 10,000 there in lansing, michigan to try to push pressure the lawmakers, don't vote for it. it will be bad. the president of the united states was in michigan yesterday at an engine factory and he talked about look, you hear a lot about union states and right to work states. this is not about economics. what's happening here in michigan, he says, is all about politics. >> what we shouldn't be doing is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages. [ cheers and applause ] so-called right to work laws, they don't have to do with economics. they have everything to do with politics. what they're really talk being is giving you the right to work for less money. we don't want a race to the

bottom. we want a race to the top. [ cheers and applause ] america is not going to compete based on low skill, low wage, no workers rights. we've got to get past this whole situation where we manufacture crises because of politics. >> gretchen: i think what's missing in some of that when you're talking about workers' rights and wages is that a lot of what's making it tough for these companies sometimes to deal with unions is the pensions. they can't keep up with paying out these huge pensions and we were telling you earlier today about those chrysler workers, who were they were off duty during lunch they were drinking and smoking pot that they were reinstatuted into their jobs because the union is so powerful and got them their jobs back. there is some piece of the puzzle missing in what the president says. >> eric: let's point something

out. the president is who is injecting politics. he within to michigan yesterday, stood on the stump and anti-legislation, anti-this bill, but it's already done. this is just waiting the governor's signature, whether it will be this form or this form. the governor will sign something into law, likely today. it's over. why inject the politics? why go there? with so much going on, the fiscal cliff, negotiating back and forth with the house trying to figure out how to avoid massive tax increases and spending cuts, why there? it's all politics. >> steve: one other note, the "wall street journal" says regarding right to work states, between 2000 and 2010, 5 million people moved from union states to right to work states and they have 23% higher rate of income growth per capita in right to work states. so things are thriving in the right to work states. there are 24 of them. 26 still are union states. >> gretchen: eric brought up an interesting point about why isn't the president staying in

washington, because now it turns out that the fiscal cliff is actually closer than we thought. it was not coakley january 1 anymore. we've about to go off it any day now because apparently it takes a certain amount of days to actually draft any kind of legislation that they might come to an agreement on and so if you backtrack then from the end of the year and when congress is going to be going home for christmas and other holidays, then you really don't have that much time. it's really only days away now. we know they had the secret meeting between john boehner, the speaker of the house and the president on sunday where no details were given. but we haven't heard anything much since then. so is it done or are we making progress? got to move fast. >> steve: yeah. according to the usa today, they say just because the talks are private, there are some details. they say both sides want specifics from the other. okay. you going to give up some tax? how much? it would be good for the president if he could get

things -- all the ducks lined up by the end of this week. that's when they say the deadline really is, so he can go on that big vacation. >> eric: i think it's time to go off the fiscal cliff. it's time to let this get done. >> steve: you're not the ohm one who says that. >> eric: president obama offered zero credible spending cuts. zero. he said, we'll defer spending cuts ten, 20 years down the road if we get the tax increases in the meantime. i think it's time -- brit hume had an idea that it may look like the republicans are going to be the problem if we go off the fiscal cliff. i'm going to tend to disagree with what he's going to say. take a listen. >> the american people say it's the gop's fault when the president obviously isn't giving anything at all up. >> well, bill, you know that and i know that in part because we watch fox news and fox news reports it that way, which is the straightforward way to report it. you can find that out from reading other media, but you have to read it carefully because it's not apparent.

all the conversation, all the discussion, all the news that's made in this whole discussion since the end of the election has been about what? it's been about tax rates on the rich. >> right. >> that has been the whole story. >> steve: it should be about spending. there are polls that show 60% of americans say go ahead, jack up taxes. >> eric: i get it. right about the polls showing they'll probably blame republican, but guess what? down the road, if you think of it right now, everyone is thinking about right now. fine, blame the republicans right now because ten, 15 years down the road it will be the only thing that saves america from going off the real cliff. not just the temporary fiscal cliff, the completedon cliff financially. >> steve: the republicans have some leverage because the president doesn't want his legacy -- if we go into a recession, his second term will be tanked right at the beginning. we may recover, but it's not the legacy he wants. so there is some peril for both sides. >> eric: sure. >> gretchen: a story so outrageous it's hard to believe it's true. former marine chain to do a bed

in a mexican prison on fake gun charges. his mother is here next begging for his freedom. >> eric: then the hollywood director behind the new bin laden movie says the whole thing was firsthand accounts, but one high ranking democrat says not so fast. >> no birth certificate north texas cell phones. >> he's right in the inner circle. >> the whole world is going to want to know this hi, i'm phil mickelson.

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>> gretchen: 16 minutes after the top of the hour. for four years, jon hammer fought in iraq and afghanistan, probable leaving his country. now he needs his country to help him. the ex-marine is currently locked up in a mexican jail facing 12 years in prison for what his family calls trumped up charges for illegal gun possession. the hammer family has been pleading with u.s. diplomats for help that they say so far nobody has intervened. john's mom, olivia hammer, joins us now live from miami with her heart breaking story.

good morning to you, ma'am. >> thank you for having me. >> gretchen: so this has been going on since august 15. your son went to mexico on some sort of a trip. he took a gun that belonged to his great grandfather and he was arrested. pick it up from there. >> he went to the u.s. customs side and told them he wanted to take this rifle on this trip. he was actually -- his destination was costa rica on a surfing trip. he was just going through mexico. the customs said you need to fill out this registration paper and dare declare it as you cross the border and he was immediately arrested and he has been in prison ever since. >> gretchen: what are the charges against him? >> he's charged with possession of a weapon that is restricted for military use. >> gretchen: but you say it's really not that kind of a weapon. what kind of weapon is it? >> it's a.had 10 shotgun.

basically for shooting small birds. actually the hay in a dell mexico, the military arm of the mexican government, sent a letter to the judge and the prosecutor stating that this gun is not on the restricted list. but so far they have declined to accept that. >> gretchen: he has been in prison in not good condition. he's changed to some sort of a -- chain to do some sort of a bed. although you had the opportunity to speak to him. how frequently? >> it's pretty random. we never know when we're going to hear from him. we have sort of gotten money to the guards to allow him to use their cell phone periodically. but they don't always honor that. i did speak to him on friday, but i can go three to four weeks without hearing from him. >> gretchen: is it true that they asked for some sort of a ransom from you? >> when he originally was in

prison, this particular prison is controlled by the cartel. so he was in the general population and within 24 hours, we began receiving extortion calls from other cartel members that were inmates in the prison. >> gretchen: i mean, my heart goes out to you, olivia, because i can't imagine as a parent not knowing the fate of your son and not knowing what to do. i mean, if you give the ransom money, then you don't know if that's the right thing and you didn't really want to go public until now because you didn't maybe want to endanger his life. now you've decided to go public and what sort of help have you received from either the state department or any kind of members of congress? >> you know, i haven't spoken with the state department. certainly our local lawmakers have sent letters to the state department, to the mexican ambassador and they're reaching out on our behalf. senator bill nelson and senator marco rubio's office are sending

out letters and getting engaged in this at this point. but we really need to expedite this because we have gone public. now we need this to end fast. >> gretchen: you believe that maybe he's being treated this way because he was a former marine? >> you know, we don't know necessarily. i mean, certainly conditions in mexican prisons are never good, but we think maybe he was targeted because he was in the military. >> gretchen: i'm so sorry for what you're going through. olivia hammar, we wish you all the best as now you're taking this story public and we certainly hope that you can get somebody to pay attention and get your son home safe and sound. >> thank you so much for the exposure. >> gretchen: all right. thanks much for your time. >> you, too. >> gretchen: painful story there. it's one of the most dangerous cities in america. so why is it laying off its entire police force? guess what?

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>> gretchen: time for your news by the numbers. sixty-three dollars. that's the new surprise fee you're going to be slapped with thanks to obamacare. supposed to cushion the cost of covering people with preexisting conditions. next, 76%. that's how many americans favored cutting government spending across the board. finally, 100%. that's how much of the proceeds made from sarah mcclaw ran's

new christmas song will support her music program for underprivileged kids. you can go the song on let's find your voice.com. that sounds like a great thing to do around christmas time. steve? >> steve: thanks. it is one of america's most dangerous cities, but now camden, new jersey, is laying off their entire police force. officials say massive union contracts have are to blame because they are filled with bloated benefits that the city simply cannot afford anymore. >> eric: joining us is scott thompson, the chief of camden city police department and a former nypd officer and the founder of an organization helping camden rebuild its police force union free. let's start with you. so how does this work? if the police department is quote unquote, laid off, what keeps camden safe going forward? >> actually, the layoffs will not occur until such time as the new force stands up and has sufficient staffing to be able to take over the police

functions. >> steve: when is that supposed to be? >> we're looking at the spring. the new police department by the end of spring. >> steve: okay. chief. eric and i both live in new jersey. we know camden has a real crime problem. we can put autopsy graphic that shows it's one of the most dangerous cities in america. at this point, the people of camden want to know, are we going to be safe with the new force? >> we're going to be much safer than we are now. last night we had our 65th murder. to put things in perspective f we were new york city, that would be 7,000 murders thus far this year. the status quo can no longer remain. we need to take every effort we can to double the number of cops we have on the street. >> steve: you've got a terrible problem now where there are a lot of cops on the beat, but a lot of them, for one reason or another, don't show up day-to-day. >> we battle with 30% daily absentee. >> steve: 30% every day? >> yeah. >> eric: talk to us about who is taking over now, if the officers

are laid off or displaced, the county is picking up the slack? is that thousand works? >> there is a kevin county police department that's being put together and many of those officers currently serving in the camden city police department have been asked to apply and be part of the larger camden police department. >> steve: if you're about to be laid off, going forward l you wind up with your mention that you got through your -- you're promised by the town council and what not, that you would have a pension and benefits, what happens to those things? >> they keep the pension. part of the new jersey pension, police pension system, regardless of what agency they belong to, they would keep the pension. >> eric: is it going to be safer because of this? >> absolutely. the status quo can't remain. i mean, you look at our citizens are being victimized at third world country rates. my murder rate per 100,000.

in the u.s., it's 4.2. right now we're at 84 per 100,000. that's the equivalent of honduras. there is a moral responsibility to address this issue. >> steve: we've got a statement from the president of camden's police union, john williamson. he says you have to take into consideration that all of the other administrations understood the fact that we are working in some of the poorest and most dangerous conditions in the country. i would say that they more or less wanted to compensate us for putting our lives on the line in one of the most dangerous cities in america. what he's talk being there is the fact that they've had very rich benefits and pay going in the past. >> the reality is the union did its job. it was to secure -- >> steve: but the town's got no money! >> that's the point. it all comes down to whether the town can pay. we're not just talking about camden here. this is a growing problem.

>> everywhere. >> it's skyrocket since the 1980s and the problem we're seeing today is the layoffs and not being able to stand up -- the number of police officers you need o insure public safe, so crime continues to increase, demands on dwindling resources are increased. so what's the alternative? >> eric: we got to go. thank you guys. >> steve: good luck. >> eric: it's the brokest state in the country, but that's not stopping california from hanging out free phone -- handing out free phones to the homeless. is that a good idea? >> steve: then all decked out for christmas. up next, how you can be their secret santa. adorable. [ penélope ] i found the best cafe in the world.

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1. >> harry reid has invited director steven spielberg to do a screening of his new movie "lincoln" right there on the senate floor. that's great idea, don't you think? we've got huge unemployment, in the middle much a war, about to go off the fiscal cliff. this guy is going, let's show a movie at work! that will be fun. no wonder they can't get anything done. >> gretchen: that's funny. i guess the only inspiration would be that maybe it would be inspiration to actually get

something done because if you see the movie, you see that president lincoln got something done. >> steve: of course, that's in the senate. a u.s. senator is weighing in on the new movie that comes out in december, called "zero dark 30", all about the operation that got bin laden. what's interesting, though, and we haven't seen the movie yet, but apparently, according to people who have seen the movie, about the first 15 minutes involves a water boarding of the courier by operatives and, of course, the water boarding by the curier led to mr. bin laden and his compound. but there is a problem there. that is the fact that keep in mind, this is supposed to be based on real facts. that never happened. >> eric: which part never happened? i mean, we've heard that the enhanced interrogation to ksm is what led to the name of the curier, which led to the capture of bin laden, which by the way, katherine bigelow, who

directed this movie, was given inside information and some of it being classified to write and direct this film. so i'm sure where -- >> steve: the senator says apparently the curier was never waterboarded. >> eric: oh, i see. i see. so the movie showing the curier getting waterboarded. >> steve: people were waterborrowedded. but according to diane feinstein, that didn't happen. katherine bigelow, who also did "the hurt locker," they stand by their sources and say it's based on firsthand accounts and according to their firsthand accounts, it happened. none the less, a little outrage going on about that. >> gretchen: let's do some headlines. we heard from the family of a british nurse who report lead took her on life after putting through that prank call to kate middleton's personal nurse when she was in the hospital. they made an emotional public appearance at the hospital before issuing this statement through a law maker.

>> they are devastated by what has happened. they miss her every moment of every day. they are really grateful to the support of the british public and to the public overseas for the messages and support and kindness. >> gretchen: the australian radio show behind the prank has been canceled. the station banning all prank calls on all shows. the station expected to give $500,000 to the nurse's family. >> steve: the plane crash that killed mexican american singer jenni rivera crashed before. apparently the ntsb saying that her private jet was considerably damaged in a crash landing seven years ago. considerably damaged in texas. no word yet if that played a part in this latest accident. there is no flight recorder or any reports of bad weather. now the united states sending our own team of investigators to the scene there. apparently conflicting reports about how many people were on the plane. her brother sis six, but

officials say seven. now it comes down to that. rivera's california driver's license was found in the wreckage, along with that, of the 78-year-old pilot. >> gretchen: california can't pay its own bills. now a controversial program will have the state paying for free cell phones for homeless people. the homeless and other poor people are on the track to get phones and free service so they can keep in touch with family and potential employers. the money coming from the federally funded program, people in the program will get 250 minutes of free talk time. the plan is expected to get the green light. >> steve: if you're living on the street, where do you plug it in to recharge it? meanwhile, want to see how not to park a very expensive car? look at this. >> straighten the wheels, straighten the wheels! oh, my god. oh, god! oh, my god! oh, my god! >> steve: oh, boy. wheel of misfortune.

the driver of the bmw banged the front and side of her car trying to park it between two others. the video goes on for about a minute before the person behind the camera realized that one of the cars getting hit might be his. ouch. now let's pause for this. eric? >> eric: great transition, steve. christmas tradition here on "fox & friends," our annual paws for a cause series kicks off today. it's all about being a secret santa to pups in need in giving the gift of pet rescue. >> gretchen: joining us is robin, the co-founder and pecktive director of small paws rescue, inc. >> eric: that's not robin. >> gretchen: no, no, no. robin is right here. and bonnie ferguson, director of adoptions for small paws, the largest breed rescue organization in the country. look at these beautiful pooches! you always bring such pretty ones. especially today because they're all decked out. >> yes.

we're here for christmas. this is watson. watson is a mix and watson was in really bad ship when we found him in a chicago shelter. he had been mitt romney by a car. he was so thin, that he was too thin to undergo surgery. he is scheduled now. we've gotten him all ready and he'll be having surgery to repair a torn ligament. after that he'll be up for adoption. he's really sweet. he's three years old. >> eric: now we've christmas tree and hanukkah sweater. >> forest is jewish. [ laughter ] >> gretchen: how do you know? >> well, he's adopted. he's jewish because his mom is jewish. and boris came from a puppy mill six years ago. he's been adopted now. it started out in the puppy mill in mo in and now he lives in manhattan and walks in central park. >> gretchen: lucky boris. >> this is what we try to do for all of them. this is ross. he came from a group that we named after the friends tv series.

ross was in a shelter near chicago and i was on his last day before euthanasia. only because there are so many animals in the shelter and not enough people to adopt them. and the whole secret is spaying and newtering. >> eric: with the hurricane sandy that came through, are there a lot more rescues that need rescuing? >> there are not a lot of the by shops that needed rescuing. people took them to relatives and friends and things. but what we did see during hurricane sandy is that there are a lot of large dogs that needed help. i mean, you have your pit bulls and your dalmatians and large dogs that people couldn't readily move and take with them that we have rescue groups that are here in this area. i've been reading wonderful work that they've been doing to help those animals. >> gretchen: if somebody is interested in the beautiful dogs that you have here today, or any other dog, where do they go?

>> mallpawsrescue.com. we do everything on-line. we are in need of volunteers and foster homes. our vet bills run 30 to $40,000 every month and every month it's a miracle that we're able to keep doing what we do because the need rises. it just seems all the time. >> eric: and food and supplies to clean up the rescue shelters, you can all help out. you can donate your time and money to help others do the same. >> if you can't adopt a dog from small paws, go and visit injure local shelter shelter and save . >> gretchen: boris is so cute. >> eric: boris is adopted. >> gretchen: he knows that the park is awaiting him. >> he does. he's a happy guy. >> gretchen: guess what, tomorrow we're going to continue the series, forgotten friends of long island. they'll be here with more dogs that need homes for the holidays. we keep helping you do the good work. >> thank you. >> eric: steve, what do you got? >> steve: what's coming up? thank you very much. the president promised your coverage would not change because of obamacare.

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and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. >> gretchen: some quick headlines. mix-up at a was station in new jersey had cars stalling after filling up because they had just filled their tanks with jet fuel. the gas delivery company says it was their mistake. american students still lagging behind their peers peern europe and asia. fourth grade railroads still outperformed in science by kids in countries like finland and singapore. eighth grade students are stagnant. but american students are still better than the global average

and the strongest in reading. steve? >> steve: thanks, gretch. remember when president obama was pushing for his health care reform and promised you that your health care would not change? well, looks like one of the nation's largest retailers actually the largest, wal-mart, is proving this isn't true. starting next year, the company plans to eliminate health care coverage for those employees who work less than 30 hours a week. deeming them part-time of the joining us with more is fox news legal analyst peter johnson, jr. >> good morning. we've been talking about this for a few years and now it seems the chickens are coming home to roost. wal-mart and its employees seem to be the victims of obamacare in a very, very big way. they put up new standards to who will get insurance coverage 24 hours, 30 hours, when you were hired, and so a lot of folks are saying, listen, the promise of obamacare is in the land of the free and home of the underemployed. are we going to be a job sharing america going forward? are we going to be a part-time

america? are we going to fill up the employment rolls with part-time employees because those people count on the national numbers. the congressional budget office had it right. they said that five to 20 million people would lose coverage. mckenzie, the consulting company said 30% of corporate america would lose coverage under obamacare. and now wal-mart has got to figure out what they're going to do because the truth is, in a letter in june 30, 2009, they partnered with the seiu and the center for american progress to write a letter in support of obamacare. they had some caveats, but they stepped out early for obamacare. so the issue becomes does the american taxpayer subsidize wal-mart at this point and are they the victim of what the president and the congress has done in perpetuating obamacare? >> steve: it will be interesting because wal-mart is a smart company. are they just doing what makes sense for the bottom line? >> it's a great company. the problem with obamacare is

that it creates these incentives not to provide insurance. that is the fault, that is the defect inherent in the plan. and in my view, the idea to drive corporate america, drive americans into the arms of government and say, we will be your big daddy. we will provide the medicaid. taxes will fund this coverage. wal-mart and these other companies are doing what's economic. they're doing what affects the bottom line. i'm sure, though, because i've seen a real transformation in wal-mart, they are going to be doing what's responsible for the employees, tempered by obamacare. they're coming up, from what i've read, with kind of a proportional plan to make sure that people don't get hurt as a result of obamacare. >> steve: shear what wal-mart says. they say the plan, the article refers to that requires part-time workers work 30 hours.

a higher percentage of associates signed our health care benefits for 2013. why? because our health care plans are affordable. >> steve: companies are trying to avoid the penalties of obamacare, and at the same time, reduce the burden of medical insurance. one of the things that wal-mart talked about was reducing the cost and from what we've seen all the projections, obamacare has not reduced, but in fact, increased the cost. so penalties increase costs. the burden of government. wal-mart and its family of employees seem to be the first victims of this i think very flawed policy. >> steve: wal-mart says they've been trying to keep costs down low for years so that they can pass the low costs on. >> they do. there are great buys there. they got to figure this out. >> steve: it's coming. thank you very much. meanwhile, next up, still need a job to make extra cash for christmas? cheryl casone here with the top

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>> eric: it's a great time to be looking for seasonal employment. retailers hired more workers last month than any month since 1939. so which companies have a job for you? here with the top five companies hiring this week, cheryl casone of the "fox business" network. let's move quickly through. >> we've got a lot of jobs still open. still apply for these positions. these companies are hiring for december and in the 2013 shutter fly is my first company.

they make the photo books. they've got seasonal positions open in phoenix, arizona, charlotte, north carolina, 2,000 jobs. these are going to be open through the end of the month. shutterfly. >> eric: number two? >> wal-mart. you were talk being them. they hired the most that they've had in years as many people have. these jobs will go through the end of december. people that can be sales associates, customer service. some associate december stay after the holidays. some of these jobs become full time with benefits. 4,000 stores across the country. they employ 1.4 million people, hence the importance of wal-mart in the health care discussion. >> we've got to get to the other three. what do you mean seasonal? do people get laid off after the season? >> not necessarily. some of these jobs will continue. they will be able to stay at the company, but yes, some seasonal jobs are only through the end of december, maybe into january to help kind of do all the clean-up, after christmas sales if you will. >> eric: but do you know that going in? do they tell you we're going to

hire from you december 15 through january 20? >> think of it as an audition. they say you may be able to stay. they usually will tell you if things work out, you may be able to stay through 2013. it's not a guarantee. >> eric: h & r block? >> there is probably one within five miles of every american home. that's how big this company is. they've got one in seven u.s. tax returns filed. they're hiring now because we're going into tax season. this actually is going to go into february, into march, the bulk of the hiring will be hire not guilty december and january. tax pros, tech support, marketing coordinators. they are going to be hiring through january. >> eric: one more. >> container store. you know container store. they've got -- they contain things. they've got 600 seasonal sales position, 58 stores across the

country. sales positions will go through february 15. again, this is one of those jobs that will extend into 2013. you do get a 0% discount -- 40% discount on merchandise and product line. take the discounts, take the job, get to work. don't sit on the couch. >> eric: correct. cheryl casone, by the way, if you forget where we find jobs or where cheryl finds jobs for you, log on to casoneexchange.com. you can e-mail her if you have questions about jobs. >> e-mail me. i look at every e-mail. >> eric: the newest powerball winner finally coming forward with his financial advisors telling him take the money and run. laura ingraham on that, plus actress aisha tyler and rick snider and star of the new movie "parental guidance" coming up. i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin.

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>> gretchen: good morning, everybody. it's tuesday, december 11, 2012, i'm gretchen carlson. thanks for sharing your time with us today. the latest battle against big labor comes to a head now in michigan today. look at all these people. these are angry people in the unions across the country converging now on the state's capitol and they just got some powerful help straight from the prez. >> steve: how powerful is big labor? if you were caught red handed drinking, apparently smoking pot right there, while you're on the job, would you still have your job? well, those guys do. thanks to their union. that story coming up. >> eric: all right. get a good look at the country's latest mega millionaire. why the newest powerball winner is coming forward now before the fiscal cliff. "fox & friends" starts right

now. >> steve: hey, everybody. you know what, in the break, tobo was playing alvin and the chipmunk, they used to play that when i was a little kid. >> gretchen: really? >> steve: back in the day. back in the 1960s, whenever. a lot of people thought when i was that anal, how did they teach those chipmunk to sing. >> eric: amazing. >> gretchen: actually kids still today think that because they've had the brilliant idea of having several alvin and the chipmunk movies that i have been honored to go to. and i think they had a christmas one one time. >> steve: eric bolling is busy today. >> eric: nothing to say about the chipmunks. >> steve: he's in today. >> gretchen: we have headlines. developing story overnight, a medical chopper went down last night leaving three people dead and officials just reporting that icing on the aircraft may

be to blame. it happened in northern illinois. the chopper, registered to rockford memorial hospital, was headed from rockford to a hospital about 60 miles away when it went down in a field. the pilot and two flight nurses were killed. no patients were on board. he is the hero who died saving an american doctor from the taliban. pentagon identifying the navy seal as 28-year-old nicklaus check was a member of seal team 6, the group that killed osama bin laden during the raid in afghanistan. this most recent one, he moved in on the huts where dr. joseph was being held hostage. gun fire broke out. the doctor was rescued. but the navy seal was shot and he died from his injuries. the largest fine ever paid by a bank. british banking giant hsbc will now pay more than $1.9 billion to settle a u.s. money laundering case. the bank faces accusations that

it transferred billions of dollars for nations like iran and enabled drug car cartel cartels to move through its subsidiaries. break out the cowboy boots. ♪ . >> gretchen: the american country awards kicked off in vegas last night. the big story of the night, luke brian taking home nine awards, including artist of the year. >> country music, there is nothing better w. got to do what we love and do it for people that are honest, hard working, beautiful people that support great music. >> gretchen: he did all the right things. he thanked his wife, thanked his band, and then he thanked all of his fans. those are your headlines.

>> steve: congratulations. president obama might be holding his breath today as lawmakers in the capitol city of michigan are about to strike another blow to union leaders. wendell goler live at the white house with details. wendell? >> you're talking about the right to work debate in michigan state legislature. big labor, of course, a big part of the president's reelection bid, especially in michigan and ohio. so we weighed in on the right to work debate at an event yesterday aimed at putting more pressure on congress to let the bush administration's upper income tax cuts expire. even though there is little chance mr. obama will persuade the republican-led state legislature. >> these so-called right to work laws, they don't have to do with economics. they have everything to do with politics. what they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money. >> the president preaching to the choir yesterday. he was greeted by rick snyder at the airport in detroit. michigan would be the 24th right to work state in the

nation and with its union background, it would be a huge blow to organized labor, which continues to lose its share of the work force. it was a little under 12% of the work force last year. it was 20% 30 years ago. snyder says his goal isn't hurting unions, it's helping michigan. >> i view this as solving an issue for michigan workers. you have hard working people in michigan. this is giving workers choice. >> republicans lost five seats in the michigan legislature last month and democrats accused them of fast tracking the right to work bill through the house and senate in a single day last week to get it done before the new legislature takes office next month. the democratic members of congress tried to pressure legislators not to approve the bill. they were scolded by the state house speaker for pressuring lansing instead of dealing with the fiscal cliff. >> gretchen: wendell goler, thanks very much. >> steve: let's switch down to our nation's capitol and at the bureau, you can see --

>> you guys, doocy and everybody that -- you guys look like you should break out into "i'll be home for christmas" with that set. i mean, boling, come on, you got to chime in. this is unbelievable! ♪ the most wonderful time of the year ♪ ♪ . >> andy williams is rolling over in his grave right now. >> eric: i wore my christmas tie especially for you. >> you look incredible, honestly. michael buble was on last night, forget about him. you need to do the chiming in of the christmas song. >> gretchen: thank you for noticing our beautiful decorations. >> it takes staff, you have staffers who actually order that and put -- i mean, people don't realize -- >> gretchen: actually i have zero people, some people do, but i don't. but no, i can't take responsibility for any of these. >> gretchen, one thing, i think they really were not very nice to you in that they didn't let the live reindeer on the set this morning. you were trying make this set come alive.

the fact that you got nixed is an outrage. >> steve: we had a problem last year when we were taping our christmas special with a camel. that's all time going to say. >> i remember that. >> steve: let's talk about this, we just heard from wendell goler about what's going on in michigan, up in lansing, they're expecting 10,000 angry union members who are going to go, hey, you can't do that. the republican legislature is going to pass it. it's going to become law. this is bad for unions. >> yeah. unions have been shrinking as wendell said, in membership and in clout. despite the fact that they got a head of steam, at least temporarily, when the president was reelected. they know that it's all on the line for them. if they lose another battle ground in a state as important to unions as michigan, they know it's only a matter of time before the other states fall one after the other, like a domino effect. i think they're really empowered in seeing what's happening in indiana, with the economic expansion and growth there. and in other states across the

united states that have given workers the right not to be part of the union. in the end, it's a shake down for political contributions and the democrats do well with unions so they want to me to be powerful. >> gretchen: it will be interesting, i find it interesting to see what will happen because we know michigan is so empowered by so many jobs from the auto industry. it will be interesting to see then how many people make this choice to not be in the union or do you still think they might feel pressure from inside to make that choice? >> i don't think so, gretchen. i think people are getting a little tired of this. there are so many challenges facing our economy and families and people are grateful today, most folks, to have jobs that pay a decent wage. the middle class has been pressured and shrunk and beleaguered and they're worried about the future. they don't want to have to worry about paying dues if they don't feel like it, if they don't want to, to people who like want to put the pressure on them. i also think that when they see schools shutting down today in

flint, michigan, and other towns in michigan, they're shutting the schools down, so presumably teachers and other union memberprotest what's going to happen in the legislature. i tweeted about this this morning before i came on and all these folks from michigan tweeting back about the school closures and again, kids and families, the ones they care so much about families, they're adversely impacted by the teachers and going off and i guess it's reading, writing, and organizing and picketing. >> steve: but the -- >> eric: the president yesterday in michigan saying it's all about politics. it's not about, woulders' rights or anything else. it's politics. yet he knows he's in the state that's going to be the 24th right to work state in a matter of hours. when is politics here right now? >> he has to, right? he has to make that comment. he owes the unions. they did show up for him. they did once again organize for him. they were a critical part of his

reelection success. and it's throwing them a rhetorical bone, nothing else. this is as much about 2014 and 016 as it is about what is happening in michigan today. >> steve: something that happened in michigan, i believe it was more than a year ago, we featured some of these images from the fox affiliate there where you can see these guys on break from the chrysler plant, looks like it's midday. they're drinking. it does look like they're smoking some weed. they got in trouble. they got their jobs back apparently through arbitration. these guys are back on the job. >> uaw was actually -- they said they're not thrilled about the ultimate outcome, but they respect the arbitratorror's decision. >> gretchen: chrysler said that. not the union. >> sorry, sorry. chrysler said that. so like next time something falls off your chrysler, like your steering wheel cover kind of slips off, now we know why, because you're like sailing -- 30,000 feet up high. knobs always fall off.

let's get another nickel bag before i go back to work. ridiculous! >> gretchen: it speaks to the power of the union. it really does. and whatever they had in the language of their contract, the arbitrator sided with them. so they must have this sort of ironclad language. you're a lawyer what, do you think? >> well, i think chrysler is now on the receiving end of what so many others feel in states where unions are really powerful. and so they're now the ones who have to deal with it. as a legal matter, i don't think chrysler is going to be able to challenge this. i think the ruling is going to stand and maybe chrysler will rue the day they were so lax and tolerant of union power. >> steve: speaking of power. powerball, the second guy who won the mega millions for

$587 million, matthew good, a guy if phoenix. he took a lump sum yesterday apparently, or in the last couple of weeks, $192 million. he wanted to get it in before the end of the year because he's worried about the fiscal cliff. he didn't want to get done in by higher taxes. >> he's a member of the 1%. so it's funny, you actual leggett money, now you suddenly -- he becomes a tax expert. good for him. he got advice and he got good financial counsel and so many lotto winners blow their money and they're out of dough in five years or something, or less. so he got the right counsel and i think a lot of folks are making similar moves and this is what happens when most of your wealth goes to one government agency or another. >> steve: laura, i think you have gotten good counsel through your life. a fellow named jim, who i think is celebrate ago birthday tomorrow. >> my father is 87. he's in connecticut. nursing home. he is a world war ii vet, u.s.

navy, and helped raise four great kids. at least my brothers are great. i was with him this weekend in connecticut. to see the world war ii generation, many of them struggling with health problems and my father as well, just wanted to say happy birthday. thanks for doing that. >> steve: god bless you and god bless him. you just saved $5 on a hallmark card. >> yeah. don't worry, dad. i'm not going to send you one of those e-mail cards. we have the real one in the mail. >> steve: there is a song when you open it up. >> my kids play those and they go through all the pharmacies and go through all the cards. it's a symphony of cards when my kids are in the pharmacy. >> gretchen: thanks for honoring your guys because they're the most important things in our lives. >> they are. we'll miss them when they're not here. >> gretchen: thanks. well, there is a right to life plate, not getting the license to drive. they were ruled unconstitutional because the other side can't have its say. >> eric: then we poured millions of dollars into a green company,

only to sell it to china. charlie gas perino on yet another good or bad use of taxpayer money coming up

>> eric: after being awarded with a $249 million green energy loan, president obama phoned in his praise to this battery maker in detroit. listen. >> i am calling to congratulate you on this tremendous milestone. as you said, thanks to the recovery act, you guys are the first american factory to start high volume production of the vehicle batteries and it's incredibly exciting to see how far you guys have come since we announced these grants, just over a year ago. >> steve: , well, that was a happy day.

after burning through 133 million taxpayer dollars in stimulus money, in three years, the firm went bankrupt and now their assets paid for by the american taxpayer may go straight to china. >> eric: charlie joins us now with the details. one works, three. how fast they went into bankruptcy. president obama says this is the way we're going to do business in the future. we give them 250 million bucks, they blow through half of it. but we're selling it to china, right? >> they're getting it in bankruptcy court. when knows, we're probably not getting it back. you buy stuff in bankruptcy court, so the chinese are basically getting a company that's marginal in value and they're buying it pretty cheap and adding it to other technology they have. but i don't think that's the biggest scandal. it's this, we have used stimulus dollars to fund economic experiments. it's one thing for the government to go in there and start a pet project, to help

fund the internet. remember what, this stimulus was designed to do, it was designed to create shovel ready jobs, to jolt the economy following the financial crisis. we all know that it didn't live up to expectations. the reason why it didn't is 'cause there is a lots of this economic experimenting. what's the difference between this and solyndra? >> steve: nothing. >> they'll probably buy solyndra in bankruptcy court. financed by the american taxpayer. it didn't put people back to work in the same amount. i am telling that you if you look at one of the reasons why the economic recovery act, that's the stimulus package, i'm sure it had some positive impact, why didn't it have the impact where they thought it was, where unemployment was down to 5? because of this stuff. >> steve: they said we'll fund these shovel ready projects, but really they weren't. we've done stories about how a lot of this money went to the alternative stuff ha did in some cases involve some of thinks bundlers. but his left, his green left flank really wanted to push this stuff. unfortunately, it's great idea

if it worked! >> president obama, this is what baffles me about labor support, he basically screwed over the construction industry. listen, if there is a lot of people think there is a need for infrastructure, infrastructure promotes jobs and long-term jobs, creates other jobs if you have decent infrastructure. there was none of that with the economic recovery act. there was this sort of stuff and a lot of transfer of money to the states. they just gave the states block grants. the states kept their municipal work forces. they didn't bond it out. why mitt romney didn't make more of this during the campaign is beyond me. >> eric: you make a very important distinction. grants and loans. a lot of these were grants that should have been loans. we'll leave it there. thank you for joining us. >> steve: straight ahead. >> eric: pulled a royal prank canceled. it's raising the question, should all shock jocks be pulled off the air? a woman who has done plenty of standup comedy here to answer that. >> steve: then now you see her, now you don't.

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>> gretchen: couple headlines now. george zimmerman heading to court in about an hour from now. he may find out whether he can leave florida and take off his gps monitor. his lawyer filed motions last week asking a judge to let him leave the country. he faces murder charges for the shooting death of teenage boy trayvon martin. a ruling could come on the same bounty scandal where players are getting paid to hurt other players. sources say depending on the ruling, any potential punishment may be delayed bay week, which would mean some of the players

could play against tampa bay this weekend. >> steve: interesting. this morning we're hearing from the family of that british nurse who reportedly may have killed herself after putting through a prank phone call to kate middleton's personal nurse at that hospital in london. they made an emotional public appearance at the hospital yesterday just after the two dj's who pulled the prank spoke out. >> if we had any idea that something like this could have been even possible to happen, you know, we couldn'ts happening. hadn't to be a prank quality. >> from start to finish, there was no harm intended and obviously, you know, we're incredibly sorry for the harm that we may have helped contribute. >> eric: the show now canceled and the radio station banning all pranks. this story definitely something everyone is talking about, including the co-host of the talk, aisha tyler. good morning. thank you for joining us. >> good morning. >> eric: no bad intent in this

prank whatsoever, right? >> what's interesting about this is we have these kind of prank calls going on in the united states all the time. i think the most famous is ryan's roses where people expose spouses that they think are cheating on them. without kind of being predictive, i'm shocked that something like that hasn't resulted in an extreme expression of anger or violence. i think in this case, no one could have predicted this would have been the result from this really kind of on the gentle side of a prank call. it wasn't particularly malicious. it's just devastating. it's a tragedy for the family. it's a tragedy for this woman who lost her life. it's tragedy for these dj's who probably thought they weren't even going to get through. maybe if they thought in the worse case, these people might have lost these jobs, but it's just really like a freak occurrence. >> steve: it is. you mentioned here in the united states. it does happen all the time. morning zoo's and stuff like that do stuff like that. but i think they pull a prank on

somebody and say, hey, we're from the radio station. we need your approval to go on the air. that never happened. >> interesting. >> steve: now, of course, london authorities, because the call originated from australia, investigating to see if any laws were broken. >> who knows what the laws in australia and u.k. are? when i listen to those ryan roses things and that's happening live. i don't think they're getting anybody's permission to do anything. >> gretchen: you're a standup comedienne as well. >> my comedy -- i'm not a mean comic. i think if i make fun of anybody, it's myself most of the time. and i think you never know how people going to react when you're cruel. my father always said this, you never know what's going on behind somebody's eyes. and you tonight. you don't know what they've come into a room with. so look, a million times we've predicted the end of iron glee this country. i don't think this is the end of anything in this country. there are always people who are willing to go to extremes to get a laugh. i hope people will consider the

possibility of what the results might be. this is something that will probably never happen again. it is a unique, unusual, very singular occurrence. >> eric: you're going to be on "glee"? >> i'm going to be on "glee"! i'm super excited. ryan murphy is an incredible talent. i got my first big drama break from him and they called and said there is this role on "glee," who you loud to do it? i was like a 16-year-old. >> steve: who are you? >> all i can tell u.s. i play the mom of one of the newer characters on the show. i'm sworn to secrecy. that's all i can tell you. >> gretchen: do you sing? >> i can't tell you that either. [ laughter ] >> steve: now we've got to watch! >> gretchen: do you have a good advice voice. >> i have an incredible singer and i'm insanely humble. i was in one of those infernal a

capella groups. >> gretchen: i love them! >> so i love "glee" because i remember that life and movies like "pitch perfect." so i was excited to be there. the kids are adorable and i was trying not to be a little cougary. i'm married, but they're all so cute. >> gretchen: cureary? >> i felt a little cougary. i kept telling him how cute the boys are. he said they're the age of my son. >> gretchen: we can relate because we have these nice looking men that come on and i feel a bit cougary. just have to take a little internal shower when you get home. >> i feel bad about me. >> steve: tune in to "glee" on fox on thursday, find out what the heck she was up to. >> it's a great episode and at that great season. so check it out. >> eric: thank you. >> gretchen: such a pleasure. >> eric: story so outrageous, it's hard to believe it's true. a former marine chained to a bed in a mexican prison on fake gun

charges. hear from his mother begging for his freedom. >> gretchen: don't tell washington, but america may fall off the fiscal cliff as early as this week. the deadline to get the deal done just got moved up. [ penélope ] i found the best cafe in the world.

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>> last night the national menorah was lit near the white house to celebrate hanukkah. [ cheering ] or as joe biden put it, hey, it's human nature from beauty and the beast. sing, sing! he's not singing! >> steve: hilarious. mrs. pots and everybody else. >> gretchen: little chip. >> steve: that's right. at the end -- we've heard a million times, the end of the year, that's the fiscal cliff if we don't come up to a solution by then, we're going to sail off the fiscal cliff thelma and louise style. washington doesn't work like where everybody is in the hall and work it out. no, they're estimating if we're going to wind up with a deal that will go into effect on the first day of january, 201, they've got to hammer things out

by this weekend. so this weekend is the fiscal cliff. >> gretchen: because it takes a while to write the bills. >> eric: and has to originate in the house and right now, john boehner and president obama are miles apart allegedly. it doesn't look like they're gotting any closer. so it's got to go to the house, then gets sent, assuming it passes, to the senate, gets marked up and has to be agreed upon in committees and conference and then eventually gets signed by the president. >> steve: it just takes time. >> eric: there is a holiday. >> gretchen: somebody who had to handle something similarly about a decade ago was rudy guiliani when he was mayor of new york city. he was faced with a circumstance of do i raise taxes? do i cut spending? do i do a combination of both? he was on hannity last night explaining what he ultimately decided to do. >> i was given a report, report said, you have to raise taxes across the board. said nothing about reducing spending. and i said to myself, i wasn't an economic expert then. i became one after being mayor of new york. and i said, this doesn't make sense. if i raise taxes now, i'll have to do it again in two years and

then four years, 'cause i'm going to be losing tax base. people will leave. we're taxing them too much already. i'm going to try something different. i'm going to try to lower taxes and lower spending. i can't lower taxes too much at the beginning. i'll lower it a little bit, but lower spending a lot and then two or three years from now, i'll lower taxes a lot. three years into it, we'd $3 billion surplus. unemployment dropped from 10.5 to 6%. we had a city that was humming. it wasn't all that, but that had a lot to do with it. erskine bowls is absolutely right. this is a spending problem. >> steve: it is a spending problem. if you watch the main stream media, they're talking about how the republicans have got to cave on taxes, all about taxes. we don't have a tax problem. we've spending problem. >> eric: and we have a bigger problem 'cause the president who was supposed to bring spending issues, spending ideas to the table with speaker boehner has brought nothing. he literally brought more spending. not less spending in the form much more stimulus. >> steve: he promised he will cut the deficit in half his first term that. didn't happen.

>> gretchen: now to today's headlines. it may be the last picture taken of mexican american singer jenni rivera. this photo surfacing on instagram. that is her with four other passengers on her private jet. that plane reportedly badly damaged in a crash landing that happened seven years ago. the united states now sending its own investigators to the scene in mexico. there are conflicting reports about how many people were actually on board. rivera's brother says six. but officials say seven. rivera's california driver's license was found in the wreckage, along with that of the 78-year-old pilot. >> steve: meanwhile, a former marine locked up in a mexican prison for nearly four months on what his family calls bogus gun charges. jon hammmar was arrested for bringing an old shotgun that belonged to his great granddad across the border. he tried to register the gun with mexican authorities, but they threw him in jail, saying the gun was illegal. earlier his mom told gretchen that her son has been chained to

a bed in a mexican prison. >> when he originally was imprisoned, this particular prison is controlled by the cartel. so he was in the general population and within 24 hours, we began receiving extortion calls from other cartel members that were inmates in the prison. >> steve: so far attempts by florida lawmakers to free the man have been unsuccessful. we'll keep you posted on what's going on with his case. >> eric: okay. now you see her. now you don't. this could be the future of camouflage for american soldiers. the u.s. military is reportedly backing the development of these invisible cloaks. >> steve: how harry potterrish. >> eric: the fabric is quantum stealth and said to bend light so you can't tell it's there. >> steve: i want one. meanwhile, now extreme weather, twister forming in front of their very eyes. the shocking scene caught on camera by a guy driving through

florida. the tornado causing some serious damage to dozens of houses. joining us from edge water, florida, is lauren johnson. good morning, lauren. >> hey, good morning, steve. a lot of people just waking up, able to see the damming in the daylight since the wicked weather blew through around 5:30 p.m coming outside to things like this, insulation of their manufactured homes, completely strewn all over the yards. look at some of the damage, you can see twisted metal dangling from the trees, wrapped around trees and street poles here. lots of structural damage. these homes unable to be lived in because of that. many people not even in town. we're told the people living in this home that you see here, out of town in new york city. unable to even see this damage. and many people had to be helped by red cross last night because they had nowhere else to go. take a look over in this area. a car is completely buried under sheets of metal that blew off of homes in the nearby area. many people telling me they're

going to spend the rest of the next few hours, days and weeks cleaning up this big mess and for one family, don't have any insurance to help. back to you guys. >> steve: that hurts. lauren, thank you. >> gretchen: meantime, this is new video just in of all that snow piling up in my home state. this is minneapolis, minnesota. the state saw record snowfall, even for minnesota. some areas getting as much as 16 inches. let's go to maria molina for more on this wild weather. hi, maria. >> hey, good morning. good to see you. we saw record snowfall across portion of the midwest associated with the same storm system that actually produced those tornadoes across portions of louisiana, parts of mississippi and the state of florida. look at some of these incredible totals of snowfall. we saw in minnesota, over 17 inches in sacred heart n. wisconsin, about 14 inches in spots. in madison, south dakota, where we had blizzard warnings while this was going on because of very strong wind gusts, over 40 miles per hour, 11 inches out there. otherwise take a quick look at

some of the storm reports. we had reports of strong damage. wind gusts over alabama, florida, and as far west as louisiana. the same storm that dumped snow. incredible to see this kind of activity as we head into december, as we are in december seeing a lot of snow, which is expected, but tornadoes, not expected during december. so a little unusual, you guys, to be seeing this activity. otherwise temperatures behind the front, very cold across minnesota. we saw temperatures in the single digits and teens early this morning and high temperatures not expected to move a whole lot. minneapolis expecting a high temperature still into the teens. guys? >> gretchen: all right. thanks very much for the update. >> steve: sorry, kid, class canceled today. michigan teachers in at least two towns now joining the fight against a bill that gives workers the right to refuse union membership and it all comes down to what happens today. the governor of michigan joins us live next. >> gretchen: plus, you remember

long duck dong? >> what's happening, hot stuff? >> gretchen: i don't know if it's good or bad that i don't. he's back. stopping by with a look at one of his new movie "parental guidance." >> one for each of you. there you go. there you go. >> we don't do guns. staying acty ease arthritis sympto. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function

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progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. >> eric: quick headlines. niece right to life plates not getting a license to drive, a judge in north carolina declaring them unconstitutional. the reason? there aren't any plates with the opposite opinion available. and americans about to get slapped with a $63 fee thanks to obamacare. it's supposed to cushion the cost of covering people with preexisting conditions. back up to you gretchen and steve. >> steve: thank you.

>> gretchen: thanks. union members from across the country will invade the michigan state capitol to protest the controversial right to work legislation which governor rick snyder is expected to sign today. and he joins us now live. good morning to you, governor. >> good morning. it's great to be with you. >> steve: great to have you. we saw some of the demonstrators yesterday. they'll be in full force today. yesterday they were in the capitol. some of the of the protesters were in your neighborhood, weren't they? >> yeah. they actually came to my house. this is one of those issues that it's important to move forward with because it's all about being pro worker. this is about giving workers the freedom to choose whether they're resource goes to a union or not. i actually don't view this as antiunion because it gives unions a better chance to presents their case. as a practical matter, the other thing it will do is bring more and better jobs to michigan. indiana had a strong experience. they did similar legislation in february.

they've seen thousands of jobs come to indiana and those jobs could also come to michigan. >> gretchen: didn't the voters really speak about this in your state? didn't they vote for this? >> well, what we had is we had a number of ballot proposals and the unions went ahead and put a ballot proposal on collective bargaining that way overreached into our constitution and the voters soundly defeated that. it was about 40 to 60% in terms of the vote no in terms of knocking that down. and it really caused this to become an issue in terms of bringing it to the public's attention and there has been a lot of dialogue. so i view it as important to step up and take a view and i very much am pro worker. again, let's give workers the freedom to choose. >> steve: your state will be the 24th right to work state in the united states of america. and once you sign the bill and you said you would, then workers in your state, if they're in a shop that has a union now v the choice of whether or not to join the union. going forward, governor, do you think people will continue to join the union or when given the choice, they'll say, you know

what? i don't want my money going to that. >> well, the way i view it is it gives them the choice -- i'm not going to pick the decision. it's up to them. what i say is it really gives the unions an opportunity to talk where they add value. and if workers really see value, if they see why it's a good thing to belong, they'll join. if they don't, why should they join? we did a press conference here when i first announced this and it was great. we had a number of workers that were from right to work states and we had a number of union members that made the choice to join. burr they really appreciated that freedom to choose. >> gretchen: one interesting thing is that we're hearing reports that some school districts will now be shut down today because the teachers who are pro-union are going to be calling in sick and coming to protest. so what do you say to parents right now? what kind of lesson does that teach their kids? they're not going to school because teachers are going to protest. >> yeah. i think that's very unfortunate because if you think about it, too often the educational system is all about the adults.

what we've tried to really focus in here in michigan and leading message i've been sharing is let's get focused on the kids. the kids should come first. we need to be focused on student growth. so to see schools shutting down because of an issue like this is not appropriate, in my view. those kids need a great education and it shouldn't be about adult issues. it should be about issues focused on children. >> steve: great point. you got a busy day. we thank you for dropping by and telling us what's going on in michigan. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> gretchen: coming up on our show, i'm going to let you say this. >> eric: coming up on -- >> steve: coming up on this show, remember that funny guy in "16 candles"? >> what's happening, hot stuff? >> steve: now that guy is teaming up with billy crystal for some parental guidance. he joins us live next. >> gretchen: first, let's check in with martha mccal lull for what's coming up at the top of the hour. good morning, martha. >> hey there, good morning. as you have been talking about,

it is a very big day in michigan. crowds are now amosing in the state capitol to protest the right to work vote that's happening this morning. we'll talk to the man who crafted that bill on what's being called a turning point for unions. and ge's ceo says they're doing something right in china. why his comments have everybody talking about that today. and her movie "zero dark 30" takes a hard look at the bin laden raid. but critics are speaking out. katherine bigelow responds. we will see you here in "america's news room" at the top of the hour.

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>> gretchen: who can forget that scene, a young gedde watanabe playing long duck dong almost 20 years ago in the classic flick "16 candles." >> steve: classic indeed. now he's back and stealing the spotlight from billy crystal and bet mitt letter in the fox film "parental guidance." >> these are parents. they're going to watch the kids. >> welcome to healthy tiger. >> what's that? n no msg, no gluten, no sodium. just healthy food! >> i'm drooling already. >> it's like me! >> my mother japanese. my father chinese. my kids go to hebrew day school, oy vay. >> eric: we're joined by gedde watanabe. it looks fantastic. tell us about the movie. >> well, it's a wonderful,

wonderful family movie. it's about raising grandchildren, kids and the problems that go along with it. everyone will enjoy this movie. so you can take your family, anybody. >> gretchen: i love seeing that because it's rated pg, right? >> oh, yes. >> gretchen: okay. >> absolutely. >> it opens on christmas. >> steve: sure. the idea is that billy crystal and bette midler are the grandparents and they've been asked to take care of their children's children for a period of time. they discover that the way the kids are raising their own children is not like the way it used to be. >> that's absolutely true. then there is a lot of mayhem that is involved and my character sort of gets involved in the family antics. but it's pretty heart filled also. after the all the hi layerity --

hilarity, there are wonderful things that come out of this movie. >> gretchen: let's talk about the character you played in "16 candles" 20 years ago to the one -- you still cracking up about it -- from the one that you play now in this movie, any similarityies? >> oh, i'm sure there are going to be. i'm sure people are going to remember me. but i'm a lot older. i lost a lot of hair. [ laughter ] >> steve: how about the accent? we have read that when you tried out for "16 candles," you faked that you couldn't speak english. >> yeah. they didn't realize that i was born and raised in ogden, utah. and i actually had to go back to the director and i think i actually shocked john hughes at the time. but i can't get away with that now. >> gretchen: no. >> steve: you're famous. it opens on christmas day. it looks hilarious.

thank you very much for joining us live. >> quite wonderful. i'm very excited about this movie. >> gretchen: fantastic! now i know what i'm going to do in the afternoon with my kids. thanks so much. >> yes. >> gretchen: more "fox & friends," two minutes away why is it that the most impressive technology often comes with a set of equally impressive instructions ? shouldn't something that's truly advanced, not need much explanation at all ? . . there's not much to learn

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